Judges 4: Deborah

Yet again, the children of Israel had disobeyed the Lord. At this point in time, they had been under the yoke of Jabin, a Canaanite king, for twenty years. He had nine hundred chariots of iron, and was apparently very powerful.

The Lord raised up Deborah, a prophetess, to free the Israelites from oppression under Jabin. The text says that she would pass judgements for the children of Israel while she sat under the palm tree of Deborah.

Deborah summoned Barak, an army officer, and told him to go with ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun to fight King Jabin’s armies. Barak said he would only go if Deborah went as well, so she agreed to join him. Deborah then prophesied that Sisera, the enemy commander, would be defeated by a woman.

The two armies clashed at by the River Kishon, and all of Sisera’s men were killed. Sisera then fled to the tent of Heber, an Israelite who was on peaceful terms with King Jabin. Jael, Heber’s wife, invited Sisera to come in with the comforting words, “fear not”. She covered him with a blanket, gave him milk to drink, and let him sleep there.

Then Jael quietly took a tent peg and drove it into Sisera’s temple using a hammer, so that the peg stuck in the earth. When Barak came to the tent, pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to tell him, “come, and I will show you the man you seek.” And she showed him Sisera, dead, with a peg through his temple.

So Jabin’s army was defeated that day, and Israel grew stronger until their oppression under Jabin came to an end.

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Deborah is an especially significant character in the Bible, because she was the only female judge of Israel. It was very unusual for a woman in those times to rise to power, yet she truly earned the respect of her people. Deborah, as a woman, stands for the nurturing power of the Word to strengthen us during regeneration. Her name means ‘a bee’, but this comes from a word meaning ‘to speak’ – here, to speak the Word. Bees make honey; honey is nutritious; God’s word is our nourishment (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 3424[2]).

The fact that Deborah judged from under a palm tree may seem like a passing detail, but even this contributes to the spiritual meaning of the story. Palm trees stand for the divine truths of the Word, which means that Deborah was judging the people from her understanding of the Lord’s truths.

King Jabin’s nine hundred iron chariots represent the apparent power of false beliefs, thoughts and persuasions over us. The number ‘nine’ stands for something which is complete, and ‘iron’ here stands for either natural truths or falsities. A ‘chariot’, being pulled by a horse, always stands for a set of teachings or doctrine. These three symbols add to the picture of a very powerful enemy: false ideas and views that can weaken and overwhelm us (Arcana Caelestia 4720[2]).

The spiritual meaning of the complex arrangement between Barak and Deborah is that we can only deal with our spiritual conflicts if we take the Word’s power (Deborah) with us. Barak, a man, represents the power of truth, but Deborah says a woman will gain victory over Sisera. The feminine stands for the power of love: our charity, our affection for good, and our wish to be useful. These qualities are always essential in our spiritual life (see Swedenborg’s work, Apocalypse Explained 1120[2]).

The story about Jael and Sisera is really about actively resisting the temptations of evil in our lives. Jael, a woman, stands for the power of good to overcome what is false in our mind. Driving the tent peg through Sisera’s head stands for the complete destruction of what is false. Driving it right through and into the ground stands for the power of good in our life and in our regeneration, because the ground represents our actions (Arcana Caelestia 268).

When Barak and Jael meet, it stands for the unity between good (Jael, a woman) and truth (Barak, a man). This unity of good and truth appears again at the start of the next chapter, in which Deborah and Barak sing of Israel’s victory.

3417. 'And camped in the Valley of Gerar and dwelt there' means that He did so for lower rational concepts, that is, He abandoned interior appearances for exterior. This is clear from the meaning of 'camping' as arranging into order, from the meaning of 'the Valley of Gerar' as lower rational concepts or exterior appearances of truth - for 'a valley' means lower things, or what amounts to the same, exterior things, 1723, while 'Gerar' means matters of faith and so of truth, 1209, 2504, 3365, 3384, 3385; and from the meaning of 'dwelling' as having one's being and life, dealt with in 3384. From this it is evident that 'he camped in the Valley of Gerar and dwelt there' means that the Lord arranged truths so that they would also be suitable for the mental grasp and the disposition of those who are not concerned so much with life as they are with matters of doctrine concerning faith, as may be seen from the Word, in which likewise truths are suited to people's ability to grasp them.

[2] For example, people who are concerned with matters of doctrine and not so much with life do not know anything other than this, that the heavenly kingdom is like kingdoms on earth, in that people are made great there when they govern others. The delight that comes from this is the only delight they know of; and this they prefer to all other delight. For this reason the Lord has also spoken in the Word according to that appearance, as in Matthew,

He who does and teaches so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:19.

And in David,

I said, You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you. Psalms 82:6; John 10:34-35.

And because at first the disciples themselves did not have any other conception of the heavenly kingdom than that of greatness and position over others, like that on earth - as is clear in Matthew 18:1; Mark 9:34; Luke 9:46, and also the idea of their sitting on the right hand and on the left of a king, Matthew 20:20-21, 24; Mark 10:37 - the Lord therefore replied according to their mental grasp and also inclination of mind when an argument arose among them about which one of them was to be greatest,

You will eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 22:24, 30; Matthew 19:28.

For at that time they did not know that the delight of heaven is not the delight that goes with being great and having position over others, but the delight that goes with being humble and with the affection for serving others; and so it does not consist in wishing to be the greatest but to be the least, as the Lord teaches in Luke,

Whoever presents himself as least among you all will be great. Luke 9:48.

[3] Thus people who have a knowledge of cognitions but are devoid of the life of charity cannot know of the existence of any other delight than that which results from having position over others. And since that delight alone occupies their minds and constitutes the whole of their life, therefore they do not have any knowledge at all of the heavenly delight which results from humility and from the affection for serving others. That is, they do not know the delight that accompanies love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and the consequent bliss and happiness. The reason why the Lord adapted what He had to say to their imperfect outlook was so that they could be aroused and led on to good, to learn it, to teach it, and to do it. And yet He does teach what greatness and position actually are in heaven, as in Matthew 19:30; 20:16, 25-28; Mark 10:31, 42-45; Luke 9:48; 13:30; 22:25-28. These and other ideas like them belong to the lower degree of appearances of truth, for in relation to others those in heaven are made great, and are given positions, power, and authority over others, in that one single angel is more powerful than ten thousands of spirits in hell, yet not so from himself but from the Lord. And he has that power from the Lord in the measure that he believes he can achieve nothing from himself and is accordingly the least. And he is able to have such a belief in the measure that humility and an affection for serving others exist in him, that is, insofar as the good that is essentially love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour is present in him.